Waterlilies with a green overlay
Updated: Apr 3, 2021
Hey there, what's new? Well, I have a few news of my own. You might have noticed I did a bit of redecorating around the website. It looks like green is the predominant shade in the color palette. Here's what I mean:
Waterlilies with a green texture overlay. I guess if I had to describe my current WIP that pretty much sums it up.
It all started when by chance, I happened to hear this song...
The song is Edvard Grieg's Solveig's Song. By the time I had listened to the first few seconds, the idea began to stir in my brain's grey matter. For a while now, I had wanted to tell Letizia Leone's story--if you've read Written in Blood, you've already met her. If not, what are you waiting for? Go read that book right now, lol! Some people say inspiration is overrated, that it's a myth. But I'm telling you, it does exist. I cannot envision the world without it. It comes to you when you least expect it. And when it happens you must seize the moment. Take hold of the idea, write it down. The work comes later.
Everything stems from the story's premise. Outlining is esencial for me, I need a basic structure and I branch out from there. Then comes the fun part: research. Okay, so maybe not everyone's favorite part, but I know many authors who love doing their research and sometimes even get lost down the rabbit hole--it might have happened to me once, or twice... err.... maybe more.
Time for teaser number one:
Letizia Leone's story is set in seventeenth-century Venice. I have done historical research of this period before, for Written in Blood. But in this case, I needed to be more specific because Letizia Leone's world revolves around the Opera scene in Venice--which was blooming by the seventeenth century. Venice happens to be the birthplace of Opera how we know it to this day.
It looked like finding the right research material was going to be tough. So when I stumbled upon this gorgeous book, I pretty much lost it.
Opera in seventeenth-century Venice, are you kidding me? I am devouring this book as we speak. It is such a great read, especially if you love the genre (which I do, and I think it should be as popularized as it was back then... but that's a story for another time, lol).
Time for teaser number two!
Waterlilies and green textures. Whenever I think of a story, it comes to me with music and a color palette. I end up creating mood-boards to visualize what's going on inside my head, and let me tell you, it works. (Check out my mood-boards over at my Instagram @silvana_md).
The Devil's Song is the title of my upcoming novel. In this story, you will find historical intrigue, wrestling prima donna's with the backdrop of the Venetian splendors of the era, the Carnaval... and you know me, the Devil has a major role in the story too. Who else would have swept Letizia Leone into her perilous journey to the Opera scene if not Il Diavolo himself?
More teasers on my next blog post.
Until then, have a great week!
x, Silvana.